Could it be that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to imitate the BBC’s Film … in its final painful incarnation? As it shuffled towards oblivion, that TV show decided in its last series not to have a single presenter, but a rolling, changing roster of guest hosts. The result was blandness and uncertainty.

Bruised by the Kevin Hart debacle – in which that planned presenter was dropped for refusing to apologise afresh for past homophobic comments – and after what was clearly a subsequent low-morale interlude in which the poisoned chalice was then refused by every comic in town, the Academy is engaging in a radical experiment with communal compering.

Out goes the grinning single MC or MC pairing, in comes a phased cavalcade of stars, a terrifyingly under-rehearsed Avengers Assemble of A-listers introducing various segments. This would be in addition to the traditional, awkward, guest-presenter pairings for awarding the actual statuettes.

Quick guide

Oscars 2019

When are the Oscars?

The 91st Academy awards take place on 24 February at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles. It is broadcast live on ABC in the US, on Sky in the UK, and on Channel Nine in Australia. The red carpet portion of the show is broadcast live by the E! network.

Who decides on the Oscars?

The Oscars are voted for by members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (aka Ampas), which currently numbers just under 8,000 voting members, divided into 17 separate branches, including actors, directors, costume designers, etc. (To join, names have to be proposed and approved by individual branches.) The Academy has received considerable criticism in recent years for the perceived white/male/elderly bias of its voters – and a drive to create a more diverse membership was instituted after the #OscarsSoWhite campaign in 2016.

How many Oscars are there and how does a film get nominated?

There are 24 categories – ranging from best picture to best sound mixing – presented on Oscar night. The Academy also gives out a bunch of Scientific and Technical awards: this year, for example, it will honour the people behind Adobe Photoshop and the Medusa Performance Capture System. Also there are the honorary Oscars: this year they are going to actor Cicely Tyson, producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg's PR flack Marvin Levy and composer Lalo Schifrin (of Mission: Impossible renown).

Each of the main awards has its own rules and regulations for slimming down all the eligible entries – first to a longlist, then a shortlist, then the final nomination list. In most categories, to be eligible a film must have been released for seven days in Los Angeles before 31 December, and a specialist committee makes the selection for the nomination – which is then voted on by the full membership. For the best foreign language film award, each country can submit one film (89 were put forward this year), before a committee boils them down to a final five.

What do Oscar winners win?

The Oscar statuette isn't solid gold: it's gold-plated bronze on a black metal base. It is 34 cm tall and weighs 3.8 kg. While the Academy doesn't own it once it is handed over, its acceptance is conditional that recipients won't sell them unless they have offered them back to the Academy for $1.

Photograph: Rex Features

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What a nightmare it sounds: an exponential increase of audience unease and megastar self-love, slowing down the show’s momentum and pace. None of these big names will be allowed to develop audience rapport. Nor will the audience be allowed the reassurance of a single thread of continuity – what with all of these egos having to be rolled on and off stage during musical breaks, like 18-wheeler pantechnicons being negotiated in and out of a pub car park.

I was in the audience at the Oscars a couple of years ago, when Warren Beatty contrived to award the best picture gong to the wrong nominee, causing dismay and consternation and creating a brand new conspiracy industry about the whole thing being deliberately cooked up to boost TV ratings. All of these segment hosts will be terrified of a similar cockup and an eternity of shame on YouTube.

Of course, it could be argued that discomfort and embarrassment is part of the Oscar night tradition – cherished and amplified in the age of social media when those at home can be a snarky Joan Rivers, jeering at every limp gag and fashion fail.

I myself have blogged about the tradition of the wooden award presenters, often in their weird newsreader-pairing of an older man and a younger woman. The most legendary example being Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann in 1973, exchanging stilted, scripted conversation before trying and failing to give the best actor Oscar to Marlon Brando for The Godfather.

And there is also the argument that the host plummets in interest anyway after the all-important opening monologue. Once that is out of the way, the audience is sometimes irritated to see the host keep coming back, unless they have a huge stunt up their sleeves, such as Ellen DeGeneres’s famed star selfie.

There’s no getting round it: group host or no group host, who’s doing the opening monologue? Who’s doing the gags about Donald Trump’s federal shutdown? About Brexit? About Putin? About Kevin Spacey’s bizarre in-character video as Frank Underwood? Or indeed the gags about Kevin Hart not doing the gags? Or is there to be no opening monologue – just an extended satirical musical spoof of this year’s movies? Either way, the hostless Oscars could be a gang show of grisliness.